Combination washing and drying machine



May 28, 1957 w P. E. GELDHOF COMBINATION WASHING AND DRYING MACHINEFiled Dec. 2@ 1952 COMBINATION WASHING ANDDRYING MACHINE Peter EduardGeldhof, St. Joseph, Mich., assigner," by mesne assignments, ItoWhirlpoolfSeeger Corporation, St. Joseph, Mich., a corporation ofDelaware Application December 26, 1952, Serial No. 328,082

4f1 claim. (Class- 19) This -invention relates -to Vimprovements in`laundry machines and more particularly relates to an improved form ofunitary washing and drying machine.

A principal object of my invention is to provide a novel and improvedform of laundry machine for washing and drying clothes in separatecompartments and arranged with the view toward compactness,accessibility and ease of operation.

Another object of my inveniton is to provide a cornbination washing anddrying machine consisting of separate washing and drying compartments,arranged one above the other, wherein all of the washing and dryingoperations may be controlled from one of the compartments.

A further object of my invention is to provide a cabinet constructionfor a combination washing and drying machine wherein the frame structurefor the cabinet forms two vertically spaced cabinets offset from eachother, to afford access to the lower compartment from the top thereof.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a combinationwashing and drying machine including a cabinet having two verticallyspaced offset compartments one for washing and the other for drying, thelower of which compartments opens from the top thereof, and the sidewalls of the cabinet of which form a support for the upper of thecompartments, and offset the upper compartment from the lowercompartment a distance suicient to afford free opening of the top coverand access to a clothes container therein from the top thereof.

These and other objects of my invention will appear from time to time asthe following specification proceeds and with reference to theaccompanying drawings where- 1n:

Figure 1 is a front end view of a laundry machine constructed inaccordance with my invention; and

Figure 2 is a view in side elevation of the machine shown in Figure 1.

In the embodiment of my invention i-llustrated in the drawings, I haveshown a combinedwashing and drying machine comprising a cabinet of aunitary structure and having two vertically spaced laundry compart-vments 11 and 12, the lower of which istshown as being a washingcompartment and the upper of which is shown as being a dryingcompartment and as being oiset rearwardly with respect to the lowercompartment, to afford access to the lower compartment from the topthereof.

The lower compartment 11 is shown as having a base 13 which may rest onthe iloor, a front wall 14 and parallel spaced side walls 15,15extending therealong and upwardly above a top 16 of said compartment andforming side walls for the upper compartment 12.

The lower compartment 11 is shown as having a top opening cover 17,hinged to the top 16 of said compartment toward the rear end thereof,and opening upwardly to afford access to a clothes container 19 suitablyjournalled within said compartment. The clothes container 19 is shown asbeing of a type commonly used in com- 2,793,518 Patented May 28, 1957 Nrice bined washing and drying machines, which may extractwater from theclothes by spinning the clothes, and which `has an :agitator 20ysupported therein. The agitator 20 may be reciprocably driven by amotor 21 through suitable oscillating? .drive mechanism, which ,may bedriven by ff said motor Athrough aybelt drive 22. The motor 21 and `beltdrive 22 may be connected to the oscillating drive mechanism throughsuitable clutch means `(not shown) to oscillatably drive the agitator 20or may be connected by the clutehto `spin the'clothes container 19 and`extract moisture `therefrom as in my J'Oint 1 patent with Luther RingerNo. 2,521,159 dated,September 5, 11950, and not herein fshown ordescribed `since it forms .no `part of my `present invention.

`tfhe sidewalls15,15lofthe cabinet ,-10 areshownas 6X.- tendinglfersubstantially the :height `0f the two .compartments and as having arearwardly inclined offset portion 24, in the space between thecompartments 11 and 12, offsetting the compartment 12 rearwardly withrespect to the compartment 11 a distance suflicient to afford freeopening ofthe cover 17 and free access to the clothes container 19,without interference from the bottom of the compartment 12. The sidewalls 15, 15 in the space between the compartments 11 and 12 may bereentorced by a frame structure, which may consist in angles 25 and 26extending, along the top 16 of the compartment 11 and the bottom of thecompartment 12, and connected together by angles 27, 27 extending alongthe inclined forward and rear faces of the intermediate oset portion ofthe side walls 1S, 15.

The compartment 12 is shown as having a top 29, a rear wall 30 and afront wall 31, all of which are spaced above the top of the compartment11 and are offset rearwardly therefrom by the offsets of the side walls15, 15 of the cabinet, and are rigidly supported by said side walls soas to afford a unitary cabinet structure. The front wall 31 of the uppercompartment 12 is shown as having a door 32 hinged thereto, aiording ameans for access to a drier drum 33 contained within the compartment 11and rotatably driven by a motor 34 within said compartment, for dryingthe clothes therein. The motor 34 is shown as driving `the drier drum 33by means of series of belt drives 35, as in my joint application withHarold E. Morrison, Serial No. 123,018 tiled on October 22, 1949 andentitled Gas Heated Drier, so not herein shown or described in detail.The compartment 12 may also be provided with suitable air ducts andmeans for heating and circulating the air into and out of the drum 33 asin the aforementioned prior application Serial No. 123,018 so not herein`shown or described further. lt should here be understood that theheating means may either be a well known form of gas burner or anelectric heater.

'On the front wall 31 of the compartiment 12, and adjacent the lower endthereof at the right hand portion of said front wall, I have showncontrol knobs 39 and 40, which may control the temperature and may timean operati-on of the drier drum 33, las in the` aforementionedapplication Serial No. 123,018. `On the opposite side of .the lower endportion of the front wall 31 of Ithe compartment 12, `l have shown twocontrol knobs 43 and 44, which may control the temperature andsequential operation of the clothes container 19 and the agitator 20.The .control `from the two lknobs 43 and. 44 may be like that of PatentNo. 2,521,159 previously mentioned, and no part of my present inventionso not herein shown or described Ifurther.

yIt may be seen from the foregoing that a unitary laundry machine hasbeen provided, whe-rein the washing and extracting Ioperations may becarried out in one part of the machine, and the drying operation may becarried out in another part of the machine, and wherein the washing andextracting and the drying operations may be controlled yfrom one of thelaundry compartments located for ready access and--visi\bility.

4I-t may `further be seenethat a unitary cabinet ,struc- #ture has beenprovided, wheliseptestmdry compartments for washing and drying are irranged to -aiord free access to either compartment witho\ut`stoopling'or stretching. Y

`It will be understood that various modicaltions'and variations of thepresent invention `nayhbeeffected Without departing from the spirit and'scope of the novel concepts thereof.

I claimas my invention: A laundry machine for washing and drying clothesycomprising in combination a rst lowerlaundry cabinet vfor housing thelaundry equipment therein, a second upper Vlaundry cabinet for housingthe laundry equipment and being substantially vthe same size as the rstcabinet, supporting walls between the cabinets extending f 'from thefront to the rear ofthe cabinets and spaced 20 eferences Cited in the leof Ythis patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,715,951 Rose June 4, 19292,165,487 Johnson n July 11, 1939 2,313,225 Davis Mar. 7, 194-32,566,488 Gould Sept. 4, 1951 2,609,623 Miller 1 4.. Sept. 9,1952

